Thursday, June 25, 2009

Oscar goes back to its roots

It was announced by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences president Sid Ganis that at next year's Oscar ceremony, the Best Picture category will expand its list from five nominess to ten. While the move is not unprecedented (until 1944, the Oscars had 10 or more nominations in the category), it certainly comes as a surprise to many. The idea of the Academy making a top 10 might open the door to many films which might not usually make the traditional cut (just last year, The Dark Knight and WALL-E may have in all logic been nominated were there 10 nominees) which will certainly please movie fans but where exactly do we draw the line? While certain films deserve to be nominated for a Best Picture within a certain year without making the cut, the purpose is to select the films which will be remembered through time as the absolute best. We must question as whether all ten films really deserved to be labeled as Best Picture nominees. Anyway, ten nominees certainly open the door for more fan-favorite films so we might see blockbusters or animated films slip into the category from now on. What do you think?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I think this is actually an attempt to dilute the 'prestige' pictures that the older component of the Academy tend to favor. I predict it will open the door to some of the more offbeat films, like 'In Bruges' last year and other indy pictures. It will no doubt be good for box office, but how are they going to showcase all ten in an already bloated Oscar telecast?